Antoine Semenyo has given Liverpool fans a compelling insight into what it was like working under Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth.
The Spaniard is the early favourite to become the Reds’ next head coach following his departure from the Vitality Stadium this week and the sacking of Arne Slot on Saturday.
The now-Manchester City forward played under the 43-year-old for two-and-a-half years with the Cherries before his move to the northwest in January, and during an appearance on the In the Mixer podcast last month, he revealed what it was like to work under Iraola.
Semenyo recalled: “I didn’t see it at the start. When he came in, he had his way of playing and it was very new to us, the way he structured the weeks. We didn’t really have any days off, so it’s very hard for a team to go from having Wednesday/Sunday off to having no days off.
“We would play on the Saturday and train on the Sunday, and the players in the starting XI would do the first 30-40 minutes of the session. You’re hanging; your legs are gone. You’re doing the possession [drill] and you’re running around and thinking, ‘Oh dear!’
“It was very different at the start. The results weren’t going our way and the fans were saying he needs to be sacked. I think we beat Burnley at home and everything changed. Everyone slowly got used to the system and it just went up from there.”
Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust
Semenyo’s recollections about Iraola not giving players any days off at Bournemouth would suggest that, if the Spaniard is hired as the next Liverpool head coach, the workload will be a lot more intensive than it seemingly had been under Slot.
There were questioned asked by numerous journalists a month ago when, during an eight-day gap between fixtures, several of the Reds’ players embarked on city breaks in Europe after being given time off prior to the defeat to Manchester United.
From the testimony given by the Ghana international, we can safely assume there won’t be a repeat of that if indeed Iraola is appointed at Anfield.
Should that happen over the summer, the Spaniard will need to adjust to having lengthy spells of playing three matches in a week, something he rarely experienced at Bournemouth as they didn’t have European commitments during his reign at the Vitality Stadium (ironically, that’s something he’s now bequeathed to his successor Marco Rose).
That may well have an impact on how he’d structure his training sessions if he takes charge at Liverpool, who thankfully will be playing Champions League football once again next season.
So long as the Reds’ head coach can strike the right balance of intensity between having players primed for matchday without overloading them during the week, we’re all in favour of such an approach.
Welcome to our Live Comments section, where new comments will appear automatically
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
Notify me of new posts by email.
